A federal judge gave the green light for horse slaughter to resume in the United States, perhaps as early as next week. In issuing her ruling late Friday, U.S. District Judge Christina Armijo, who is based in Albuquerque, dismissed a lawsuit by animal welfare groups that had sought to prevent such slaughtering. Front Range Equine Rescue, the Humane Society of the United States and other animal rights groups contend that federal officials didn't perform appropriate studies before granting permits to Valley Meat Co. in New Mexico and a company in Iowa.

Get an early start on the ski season and save at Taos Ski Valley in northern New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Lift ticket deals as well as packages that include lodging and lift tickets are available. The deal: For skiers hungry for powder, Taos Ski Valley is offering adult lift tickets for just $55 a day from Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving Day) through Dec. 20. After that, the price increases to $77 a day. Several package deals combine reduced-price accommodations with free lift tickets.

ALBUQUERQUE - In the small, rural community of Reserve, children waiting for the school bus gather inside wooden and mesh cages provided as protection from wolves. Parents consider the "kid cages" a reasonable precaution. Defenders of the wolves note there have been no documented wolf attacks in New Mexico or Arizona. Fears of wolves attacking humans, they say, are overblown, and the cages nothing more than a stunt. In 1995, the reintroduction of Canadian gray wolves into the northern Rockies ignited a furor.

A mother in Alamogordo, N.M., happened to flip through her kid's homework and was distraught by what she found. Nancy Wilmott's teenage daughter had been assigned to read the British writer Neil Gaiman's “Neverwhere,” which happens to have one extramarital sex scene between two adults, and has been on the Alamogordo High School 10th grade curriculum since 2004. Wilmott lodged a complaint with the school, which has suspended the use of the book in its course materials and taken it off the library shelves.

My dad was still alive when my stepmother, Carla, called to tell me she was thinking of going on a date with another man. "Do you think it would be all right?" she asked. And then she burst into tears. Since my father's diagnosis with early-onset Alzheimer's, we'd been crying on and off for nearly four years and had become expert at the efficient release of emotion. I rubbed the heel of my hand across my own wet eyes. "Of course it would be all right. " The answer came out quickly because it was true.

In case you haven't heard, "Breaking Bad's" series finale is Sunday, and if the season so far has been any indication, it's going to generate plenty of social media rants. Facebook, the world's biggest social network, has been tracking the chatter for the dark AMC drama. According to Facebook, more than 11 million people have talked about the show on the site so far this season, generating a total of 23 million interactions. The show has been getting its best ratings ever in its last installments, with viewership topping 6 million ( 6.6 million watched the penultimate episode )

UCLA Coach Jim Mora received an explanation of why linebacker Anthony Barr was called for a personal foul in the third quarter Saturday from Tony Corrente, the Pac-12's director of officiating. It led Mora to another question … one that can only be answered by the New Mexico State coaches or offensive linemen. “I'm trying to figure out why you wouldn't block Anthony Barr,” Mora said. Barr came in free during the third quarter Saturday and leveled quarterback King Davis III, knocking him out of the game.

The numbers looked right. UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns a 59-13 victory over New Mexico State on Saturday. But the postgame assessment had some minor dissatisfaction. Two of Hundley's passes were intercepted and he missed on a few other throws. "A lot of times after a game, you're emotional and thinking everything went wrong," Coach Jim Mora said. "Then you go back and look at the tape and see a lot of good things. " The No. 13 Bruins rolled up 692 total yards.

Big West Conference football has come to town. Well, the remnants of it. New Mexico State dropped by the Rose Bowl on Saturday night to pick up a hefty check and, probably, another loss. Across town, Utah State gave USC everything it could handle before losing, 17-14. These schools are alumni of the Big West. The conference dropped football after the 2000 season, sending teams off into the wild. “I still follow the programs,” Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell said.

What a perfect situation for UCLA Coach Jim Mora. The Bruins defeat New Mexico State, 59-13, and he is able to show some class at the end by emptying his bench and having his third-string quarterback take a knee at the one-yard line in the final seconds instead of piling on another touchdown. Plus -- and this is big -- he has plenty of reasons to chew out his team, should he choose to do so, after a lopsided win. Yes, there were plenty of positives for UCLA, but also way enough mistakes to keep the undefeated and No. 13-ranked Bruins humble.